Another Way to Say 'I Love You' Again
by 61wisampa
Summary: How can you tell someone how you feel for her if you freeze up whenever you try to? Takuya's code was proven effective but Tommy has other plans. Here's Tommy's own version of 'The Code.'  Side-story of Another Way to Say 'I Love You'


**Author's Notes:**

Just to let you know, this is a somehow Sequel/Side-story to **Another Way to Say 'I Love You'** which was a Takumi fic. I decided to publish this as a separate story because the pairing isn't Takumi anymore, it's Tomokari (TomokixHikari) so if you don't like it, get out, okay? :)

To those who are interested in **Another Way to Say 'I Love You',** you're free to read it :D though you don't need to read it to read this one haha!

Additional facts:

_Kari/Tommy_

_Age: 15/16 (when they met: 12/12)_

_Favorite Number: 3/4_

_Birthday: Jan 16/?_

_Kari has 5 albums of Koji Wada and Ayumi Miyazaki._

(Note: All these facts were personally selected to my own convenience :))

_Text_ - thoughts, texts being read, flashback or action (and other emphasis XD)

**Text** - printed text on the terminal (you'll get it once you read on ;))

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter II: The Program (Tomokari)<strong>

"I can do this…" Tommy told himself as he briskly walked down the hall of his school.

He was on his way to the Press Club—also known as the school's News Network—looking for someone. He knew the person he was looking for would be there—where else could she be?—since she was the present Head Photographer of the club. In his right hand was a disc in a case. It was mostly plain, a small white disc that could fit in his palm contained in an equally small black disc case with a transparent cover.

"I can do this… Tommy, you can do this…" he muttered in a mantra as he slowly approached the doors that led to the Press Club.

His brisk walk began to slow when he was but a few steps away from his destination. When he finally got there, he stopped in front of it and reached out to grab the doorknob…

"Gah! I can't do it!" faster than a heartbeat, his hand retreated as if it were electrocuted. At the same time, he turned around and faced away from the club's doors.

Tommy gave out an exasperated sigh, "Why can't I do it? It worked with Takuya so I shouldn't be this worried!" he once again spoke to himself as he clenched his fist, "Aaaaarrrghh! What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Tommy?"

He quickly turned around the moment he heard the voice. At the opened door of the Press Club was none other than the person he came for.

His body froze in place while his heart started to race.

"Kari!" he said in an anxious voice, "H-hey there! Funny seeing you here."

Said girl raised an eyebrow, "I'm a member of this club. You know I always hang around here after school."

"O-oh… really?" _'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'_

She took a step towards him with a concerned frown on her face, "Are you okay, Tommy?" she put a hand on his forehead as she held his hand, "Hmm… you don't seem to have a fever but your face is really flushed. Do you feel ill?"

"Uh… n-no! I uhm…" he took both her hands in his and stared at them, unable to match her gaze, "A-actually… I wanted to… give you something…"

Kari blushed lightly and looked at his red face with slight surprise, "Give me wha…"

"Here," he quickly put the disc in her hand before turning and running away from her, leaving the girl stunned as she watched him go.

With a confused frown, she looked down to inspect what he had given her.

"Is this a… CD?" she mumbled as she stared at the object.

"Kari, are you done talking with your boyfriend?" one of the students inside the Press Club's room called out.

Red once again tinted her face as she called back, "Tommy isn't my boyfriend!"

"Yeah, yeah, just come in here! I need to discuss the pictures we need for the newspaper."

Kari sighed. Once again she looked at the CD that Tommy gave her. With a frown she mumbled, "Boyfriend… huh?"

And with that, she went back to her work.

* * *

><p>"…run it?" Kari muttered as she stared at the writing on the CD she received. She then shifted her gaze to the laptop screen in front of her, "I understand that I have to put it in a computer but… what do you mean by 'run it?' How do I run a text document?"<p>

She had gone home after her club activities and immediately looked at the CD Tommy gave her. She inserted the CD in her laptop, intending to play it but she was surprised when it only contained one file—a text document.

She searched the case again, hoping that there would be further instructions but found none. Finally giving up, she got up from her study table with a sigh and took her phone with her. She typed a short message on her phone, asking about the CD, and sent it to Tommy. She flopped down on her bed unceremoniously, lying down as she waited for his reply. When her phone finally beeped, signaling that Tommy answered, she quickly sat up and read his message.

_'Sorry. Can't help you :P You have to figure it out if you want to know what it means :]'_

"Ugh, what a jerk!" Kari lied down again in frustration. Staring at the ceiling, her eyebrows knitted to a frown when she recalled what happened in front of the Press room, "And here I thought it was some kind of geeky confe… what am I saying?"

She shook her head, dismissing her thoughts. When she was finally calm, she took a look at the message Tommy sent her, "What are you up to, Tommy?"

Knowing that she won't get an answer, she stood up and walked back to her study table where her laptop was.

Sitting down, she cupped her chin on her hand and stared at the screen, "Now, what am I gonna do with you?"

She continued to ponder until she heard their apartment door closing along with his big brother's voice, saying, "I'm home!"

When she heard his big brother's footsteps close to the bedroom, she called out to him, "Tai, can I ask for your help?"

After a few seconds, Tai entered the room and approached Kari, "Sure, what about?"

"Well… Tommy gave me this CD," she began to explain as Tai walked towards her, "There's a writing here that said 'Run it' but when I tried to run it, it only contained a text document and… well, you know the rest."

Tai leaned down as Kari adjusted the screen of her laptop to show him what she was talking about. Tai scrolled down the document, hoping to find any clue about what to do with it. After a few moments, he replied.

"It looks kinda like a program."

Kari blinked, "A program?"

"Yeah," Tai nodded, "I saw Izzy making one like that a few times. When I asked him about it, he said it was a program using the C language—whatever that meant. You should ask him. He can even run it for you."

Kari had already ejected the CD from the laptop before Tai finished talking. Hurrying towards the door, Kari called out to her brother, "Thanks, Tai! I'm gonna go to Izzy right now, okay?"

Tai watched her scramble out of the room, "Call him first and tell him you're coming!"

The door was slammed close.

* * *

><p>"Thanks for agreeing to help me out, Izzy." Kari smiled, trailing behind Izzy as they entered his room.<p>

"Don't mention it," Izzy replied as he sat down in front of his desk, opening his trusty laptop, "So where's the file you told me?"

"Here," Kari gave him the CD which he inserted into his laptop's drive. He viewed the CD and opened the file that was saved in it.

"Well, Tai's right about it being a program," Izzy remarked when he saw the contents, "It's a code for C but this looks quite complicated. Who gave this to you?"

"Tommy did," she answered, pouting lightly as she recalled how Tommy didn't help her with it. Shaking her head off the thoughts, she asked, "Can you run it?"

"Sure I can," Izzy said brightly, "I'm just impressed. Didn't know Tommy knew this much about programming already."

"Yeah, but he still didn't help with this."

Izzy laughed, "He probably has his reasons. Besides, it's not that hard. First, you have to save this as dot-c. Then, open a terminal and compile it… finally, run it!" he recited as he did.

Kari was looking over his shoulder the whole time and when Izzy said that the program was running, the words 'Are you Hikari Kamiya?' appeared on the—what did Izzy call it?—terminal.

They both blinked and then looked at each other for a second. After a few seconds of silence, Izzy spoke.

"I see!" he exclaimed, standing up from his seat and offering to Kari, "This must be something only _you_ are allowed to answer, or rather, you're the only one who can."

"Wait, what?" she asked as she was pushed down on the seat.

"You have to answer it alone, Kari," Izzy smiled at her as he walked away.

"But… how do I do that?" she asked, looking desperately at him.

"Just type your answers on the keyboard and press enter. Don't think too much, okay?" he said as he exited the room, "Good luck!"

"Wait, Izzy!" the door was shut. Kari sighed as she turned to face Izzy's laptop. "Type and press enter. And don't think too much… what's that supposed to mean?"

She read the words on the screen once again, "Are you Hikari Kamiya? Seriously, Tommy, you're the one who gave this to me. How can it be anyone besides myself?"

With a grumble, she typed 'Yes, it's me' and pressed enter. Another question then appeared.

_'_**Enter a color.'**

She stared at it with a perplexed gaze. "…what? There's more?" sighing to herself, she decided to type her favorite color. After she pressed enter, another statement appeared.

_**'**_**Enter an animal.'**

Kari frowned in wonder as she read the statement. "What are you up to, Tommy?" she asked before typing in an answer.

This continued on several more times before a question appeared instead of a statement.

**'Add the month and the day of your birthday and multiply it by the number of albums you have of Koji Wada and Ayumi Miyazaki, and subtract your age when we first met.'**

"…okay?" Kari became more confused but decided to follow the instruction. There was nothing left for her to do anyway.

**'Raise your favorite number to itself and multiply it by my favorite number.'**

A pause, three taps on the keypad and enter.

**'Multiply 12345679 by 9 and get the first three digits.'**

"Wait… isn't that…?" she mumbled to herself as she took her phone out and opened the calculator application. Once she entered the numbers and pressed equals, she said to herself, "I was right… it is the Math trick that I told him two years ago." Unknowingly, a smile crept up to her face, "I can't believe he still remembers it."

Feeling less annoyed at Tommy, she continued answering the questions that followed.

** 'Twice the number when you multiply the age you wanted to get married by two added to your current age.'**

* * *

><p><em>"That's so sad…" Kari told Tommy as she finished the book 'A Walk to Remember' while they were in the library.<em>

_ "I thought you were studying," Tommy remarked with a smirk._

_ "Uhm… guilty," she said sheepishly as she closed the book, "But the book is just so good. Unfortunately, there isn't really a happy ending here."_

_ "What happened?"_

_ "Well, the girl has leukemia here and she's dying. Her boyfriend knew that but he still tried to save her," she narrated in a wistful tone, "When he found out that she can't be cured, instead of leaving the girl, he did something very selfless."_

_ "What did he do?"_

_ "He married her," Kari continued with a sad smile, "They were young, only about Tai's age, but he married her knowing the fact that she'll die anyway… that he'll get hurt in the end."_

_ "Maybe he just wanted to spend as much time left with her," Tommy offered._

_ "I thought that too," she replied, "And this made me realize one thing."_

_ "Oh? And what is that?"_

_ "Life's unpredictable. It's too short," she concluded, "So you should spend as much time with the person you love as you can."_

_ A tender smile grazed Tommy's lips._

_ "That's why if I found the one, I want to get married by 22!" she announced, "I'll be done with college by then so it'll be perfect!"_

_ Tommy laughed._

* * *

><p><strong>'The number on the title of the first book you bought in a book sale.'<strong>

* * *

><p><em>"This is the first time I've been to a book sale…"<em>

_ "Really?" Tommy asked Kari as she stared blissfully at the book sale in front of them, "But you have so many books…"_

_ She shook her head, "Those are all from bookstores, only place where I can get newly released books. But this is a book sale!" she began pulling Tommy inside the store, "There probably won't be any new books here but the really old ones that they don't sell in bookstores anymore could only exist here! Plus, it's way cheaper!"_

_ Tommy watched in amusement as Kari looked around the place until an old manga caught his attention. He picked it from the shelf and browsed it._

_ "Look, Tommy!" he looked up when she called his name. In her hands was an old book which he estimated to be at least a decade old._

_ "What's that?"_

_ "It's 101 Dalmatians!"_

_ He raised an eyebrow, "It's a novel?"_

_ "Apparently it is before they made a movie," she said with unhidden enthusiasm, "I'll get this!"_

_ He sweat-dropped, "You what?"_

_ "Hey, I'm curious," she pouted as she crossed her arms, "Besides, it only costs 50 yen!"_

* * *

><p><strong>'Square the number of films you used in our camping trip last summer.'<strong>

* * *

><p><em>"Oops, I'm out of film," Kari said after taking a picture of her sleeping friends on their way home from their camping trip.<em>

_ "Again?" Tommy who was seated behind her commented. Apart from Kari and JP, who was the driver, he was the only one awake. He leaned closer to the back of Kari's seat so he could see the camera she was holding, "How many pictures did you take? It feels like you used a dozen films for this trip."_

_ She turned to him—as much as the space in the van could allow—and crossed her arms, "I did not! I only used eleven, for your information."_

_ He chuckled, "Yeah, and if you use another one, it would be twelve,"_

_ "Fine," she gave up with a frown, "I'm not going to take pictures anymore."_

_ "Aw c'mon, cheer up. You already took enough photos. But if you're not satisfied," he threw the digital camera that was in his pocket on her lap, "just use mine."_

* * *

><p><strong>'The number in the first horror movie you watched with me multiplied by 9.'<strong>

* * *

><p><em>"Aaaaaaaaahhh!"<em>

_ Tommy chuckled as Kari tried to cover her face with his arm._

_ "Stop laughing at me, you jerk," she said as she slapped the arm she was hiding behind._

_ It only made him laugh louder, "Hey, whose idea was it to watch Friday the 13th?"_

_ "I know, it's mine but that doesn't mean I'm not sca…" she trailed off as she peeked from his arm, "OH MY GOSH, IT'S JASON!" she cried in terror as she pointed to the screen._

_ A second later, Kari was hiding behind Tommy while he continued to laugh._

* * *

><p>Kari was smiling the whole time as she recalled the events that came with the questions. After answering the last one, she pressed enter.<p>

**'Thank you for your patience.**

** 'I hope you're not mad at me after making you answer all these questions.'**

Kari was a bit surprised when it printed that instead of a question. Realizing that she's finally done, she pressed enter again.

**'I know this probably isn't the best way to say this but I don't really have the courage to tell you without using this.'**

She then realized that it was Tommy talking to her—well, at least what was printing was what Tommy probably wanted to say all along.

_Enter._

**'Even though this is something you just read on the terminal (it's my version of a letter, okay?), I hope you'll believe me when I say this…'**

_Enter._

A tear fell from Kari's cheek. She smiled as she read the last sentences.

"Jerk…" she mumbled as she dried her eyes, "Only you can come up with this geeky confession."

When her eyes were free of tears, she stood up with a determined face, "I'm not gonna leave you with out a reply, Tommy, so you better make it up to me and do it properly!"

After she said that, she left Izzy's apartment, calling out to thank him as she dialed Tommy's number.

* * *

><p>"I wonder if she figured it out yet…" Tommy mumbled to himself as he walked.<p>

The sun had already set, the moon taking its place in the sky as a few stars started to twinkle as well. The road was dark, dimly lit by several lampposts. Tommy was on his way home from soccer practice, though it had been a few hours since it ended. He had strolled around town after it, deep in thought about his supposedly confession. Kari had texted her about the CD, asking how to run the text document in it. He had figured that she wouldn't know what to do with it but his stubborn—and a bit cowardly—side made him tell her that she has to figure out without his help.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did I do that? I could've at least told her what to do with it. What if she doesn't figure out how? Then she'll never know that I…" he trailed off as he imagined the worst. He groaned in frustration and buried his face in his hands. "I wonder if Takuya felt the same thing when he told Zoe…"

"Tommy!"

He turned around when he heard someone call his name. He froze when that person stopped directly under a lamppost, revealing her identity.

There, a few meters away from him was Kari, panting as she held a hand to her chest while she gazed at him.

"…Kari? What are—"

"Jerk," she cut him off, her breathing still faster than normal, "I've been trying to call you."

"I uh…" he looked down, somehow unable to meet her gaze, "My phone died… sorry."

She took a deep breath, her breathing finally returning to normal, "Do you know how hard it is to find you? You weren't home or at school. I had to ask Takuya and the others, even your brother to find you. Seriously, if I hadn't known better, I'd think you're avoiding me."

"I'm not," he said, looking at her apologetically, "Look, sorry, I forgot to charge my phone last night and that I'm not where I'm supposed to be. It's just that… well… I have a lot of things in my mind."

"So you decided to walk around?"

He gave her a guilty smile.

She couldn't stop herself from smiling back. "Actually, I have a lot in my mind too. A lot of questions, that is,"

His brows knitted in worry, "Is this about the CD I gave you?"

"Mm-hm," she hummed as she nodded, "I didn't know what to do with it at first but Tai and Izzy helped me out. Tai told me what it was and Izzy was the one who ran it."

Tommy waited for a moment but when he sensed that Kari wasn't going to answer, he asked, "So… you finished it?"

"Well, yes," Kari answered and for a second, his heart stopped beating, "But there're some things I don't understand."

He gave her a puzzled look which she only responded with a smile.

"For instance, why was there a survey-ish part, after the question 'Are you Hikari Kamiya?' the one where you have to enter a color or an animal or any fruit?"

Tommy pondered for a while before replying, "Ah… that was to make sure that you're the one answering it. I made it so if the input wasn't your favorite, the program will be killed."

Kari had to hide her smile when he said that. _'So he _was_ listening to all the times I blabbed the things I liked.'_ "I see. But what about the ones after that? You know, the Math questions?"

He began to scratch the back of his neck, a habit she knew he got from Takuya, his idol, "That… well, that's just for security purposes. I won't explain to you in detail but some numbers represent certain letters in the alphabet in programming. I made it that way so that if ever someone were to pass the first part other than you, they wouldn't get the real message because it's based on the answers you input…"

"So, if I didn't enter the right numbers, all I'll get are gibberish?"

He grinned sheepishly, "Yeah,"

All she could do was smile. She had just realized how much effort he gave to that CD in order to tell her and it honestly made her glad. But…

"I really appreciate what you did, Tommy," she started to walk slowly towards him, "You went to all that trouble to make sure that I'm the only one who'll read it."

_Step, step._

"Honestly, I was really frustrated at first. I didn't know what to do with it."

_ Step, step._

"I couldn't understand why there were so many questions. I thought they were just there to make it longer."

_Step, step._

"But when you explained, I realized that… you really do care, that you listen to every little useless thing I say."

_Step, step._

"I believed you, when you said it in the program but…"

She stopped right in front of him as she stared into his eyes. Neither of them broke contact as she took his hands in hers.

"I need to hear it from you, Tommy. Or else, I might think this is just a silly dream of mine."

"Kari… but I…"

Her grip tightened as she brought his hands closer to her chest, "You already did it… please, I just need to hear you say it."

He gazed at her, staring at her pleading eyes.

He was a coward. He knew he was. He was afraid of her rejection, that if she didn't accept him, their friendship would be gone with it. But she was here, wasn't she? She came and found him. Doesn't that mean he still had a chance?

Unable to take the intensity of her stare, he closed his eyes. He didn't see her face fall the moment he did. But then, he took a deep breath and matched her gaze with determination.

"Kari…" he whispered longingly as he took her hands in his and gently caressing her cheek, "I love you… will you—"

He was cut off when Kari suddenly crushed her lips against his, throwing her arms around his neck in the process. He wasn't expecting her reaction but after a moment of shock, he smiled as he closed his eyes, responding to her kiss. He held her by the waist, pulling her closer.

When they both parted for air, their foreheads remained connected as they gazed lovingly into each other's eyes.

"I love you too, Tommy," Kari smiled as she ran her hands through his hair, "Took you long enough. And you just had to confess using that, your geek version of a letter?"

Tommy chuckled, Kari feeling the vibration of his chest as he did, "What did you expect? You said so yourself, I'm a geek, right?"

She pouted and slapped him slightly behind the head, "Shut up."

Tommy took that moment as an opportunity and leaned for another kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Another Tomokari story done :)) hopefully, in a few years, i won't be the only one writing for this couple XD

**Additional info about the program** Tommy made, the 'numbers represent a certain letter' part is actually the **ASCII**. You can look for it in Google. I won't explain anything further than that coz it'll be just too complicated... but if you want to know, review or send me a message and i'll try to explain it to you with the limited knowledge i have XDD

**if you find any mistakes, please tell me** so i could correct them. thanks! :)

Anyway, here's a Prologue of some sort... sorry, i was bored :DD

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue (additional scene)<strong>

"Why did you use that?"

A few minutes after their… uh… moment, they had decided that it was time for them to go home. Tommy insisted that he walk Kari home so now they were on their way to Kari's apartment as they held each other's hands.

"What?"

"Why did you have to make a program?" Kari asked, "I mean, not that I didn't like it but, you have to admit, it's not really a usual way of confessing."

"Oh, that," Tommy chuckled, "Well, it actually came from our discussion when Takuya asked us for help so he could confess to Zoe. Bottom line is, he was too afraid to tell her straight so Koji had this brilliant idea to make a code."

"A code?"

"Yep, so that Takuya wouldn't be nervous when he tells Zoe 'cause he knows she won't understand it immediately, and that he wouldn't be there when she finds out what he was saying. A flat out rejection will also be avoided. I just thought I could use a different kind of code—one that doesn't require much thinking and would be less likely to be misunderstood."

"So you made that program just for that?"

"What? You prefer if I had told you 4 5 6 8 3 9 6 8 instead?"

"Huh?"

Tommy just laughed, "Nevermind."


End file.
